Divided stationery drawer



06L 1960 J. GREGORY, JR., EI'AL 2,956,675

DIVIDED STATIONERY DRAWER Filed Jan. 15, 1960 INVENTORS JACKSON GREGORY JR.

DONALD R. BATES BY NORMAN H.BATES Dimg Aesir Unite n DIVIDED STATIONERY DRAWER Filed Jan. 15, 1960, Ser. No. 2,714

'4 Claims. (Cl. 206-73) This invention relates to divided drawers as used in office desks, and more particularly to drawers of this type in which the divided sections are adjustable and provide space for holding stationery and the like.

It is common in ofiice desks to provide one or more drawers which are especially adapted to holding flat sheets of paper, so that the latter may be readily with drawn for use. This is most generally accomplished by obliquely slotting the sides of such a drawer, and providing thin sheets of plywood or the like which may be inserted between the slots. A small measure of adjustability is provided only by having the slots more numerous than the panels.

It has long been desirable to provide stationery panels in a drawer of the type jus described in such a fashion that the spacing between adjacent panels or sheets can be readily varied, and so that the entire assembly can be easily withdrawn for cleaning. Throughout the years a number of more or less elaborate arrangements have been suggested, but unfortunately generally have sufiered from the disadvantage of mechanical complicatedness with a concomitant high cost of production.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a stationery drawer assembly of the general type described in which both the number and the spacing of the individual panels can be readily varied and adjusted, and in which the mechanical construction is simple enough to lend itself to large-scale commercial production and yet provide a fool-proof solution to the problem.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a partially cut-away perspective view of our inventive drawer.

Figure 2 is a detail, partly in section, showing a method of securing the divider panels in accordance with the invention.

Figures 3 and 4 show alternative embodiments for the lug construction.

Figure 5 shows how the inventive drawer may be adapted to receive a pencil tray.

Figures 6 and 7 show how the inventive drawer may be adapted to receive vertical panels.

Generally speaking, and in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of our invention, we provide a pair of oppositely disposed horizontal slots in the two side panels constituting a pair of walls of a drawer, these slots being intermediate in height between the bottom and the top of the drawer; and We provide a plurality of divider panels each of which carries a pair of lugs which engage the aforesaid slots, and moreover in such a fashion that when the divider panel is in emplacement position the lugs are free to move along the slots, but additionally are of such a nature that when the divider panel is allowed to drop from its emplacement position to its rest or working position, then the aforesaid lugs grip the side walls of the drawer by pressing along the top and bottom of the slot.

States Patent The action which has just been described in somewhat general terms may be more clearly understood by reference to the drawings.

Considering now Figure 1, this shows a drawer 10 of conventional construction, with a front wall 11, a back wall 12, side walls 13 and 14, and a bottom 15. Most commonly such a drawer will be made of wood, for example, plywood, although various parts of the drawer and indeed all parts may be made of pressed wood, metal, plastic or the like. Since our preferred mode of construction is by the use of plywood for at least the two side walls 13 and 14, the detail description will be in terms of that material. The two side walls 13 and 14 are provided each with a horizontal slot 16 and 17, access to which is provided by a pair of vertical slots 18 and 19 which lead up to the top of the side panels 13 and 14 respectively. The two horizontal slots 16 and 17 may conveniently run for substantially the full horizontal length of the side walls 13 and 14.

Next, we provide a plurality of divider panels, two typical ones of which appear in Figure 1 as panels 20 and 21. As may be seen, these panels are slightly narrower in width than the free distance between the side walls 13 and 14. Likewise, they are somewhat longer than the vertical distance from the horizontal slots 16 and 17 to the bottom of the drawer 15. Each of the panels may be provided with a bottom shelf portion 23, and in any case each divider panel carries a pair of lugs 24 and 25 on panel 20, and 26 and 27 on panel 21. While it is not essential, it is convenient to provide these lugs as the two ends of a single rod which runs for the width of the respective divider panel and extends somewhat beyond at each end, and, more particularly, just slightly less than the maximum included'distance between the slots. r

A characteristic and essential feature of the lugs is that they have a cross-section measured perpendicular to the plane of the divider panel which is less than the width of the slot 16; but at the same time they have a crosssection greater than the width of the horizontal slots 16 when measured obliquely inclined, for example, in a direction 45 inclined to the plane of the divider panel. These relationships may be especially readily seenfrom the detail cross-section shown in Figure 2, wherein 21 is the plane of the panel in question. A suitable crosssectional shape is that ,of a square, as is shown inthe particular embodiment depicted in .Figures 1 and 2. This is especially convenient and we prefer it because square rod is readily available commercially and also is particularly well-adapted to spot welding or otherwise aflixing to a fiat surface such as the side of panel 21.

Now it will be seen that by virtue of the peculiarity of the cross-sectional configuration of lugs 24 and 25, as long as the divider panel 20 is maintained in a horizontal disposition as is shown in Figure l, the panel with its attached lugs may readily be dropped through the short horizontal slots 18 and 19 and then moved laterally to any desired position along slots 16 and 17. When the panel has been moved to its desired position, it is then allowed to drop by rotation about the lugs, whereupon the lugs will grip the sides of the slots 16 and 17 by virtue of the greater cross-section involved. Such a divider panel with its lugs secured in this fashion to the slots is shown by panel 21 in Figure 1; and the detailed manner of gripping is especially discernible from Figure 2.

For clarity in presentation, a total of only three divider panels is shown in Figure 1, but it will be apparent that any desired number, up to the total capacity of the drawer, may be used.

It is convenient to provide one divider panel 30 which assumes the front-most position in the drawer which additionally has an extended turned-down portion 31, which assumes a vertical disposition when panel 30 is placed in its rest or working position. This serves to prevent pencils and other small objects from moving out of reach underneath the divider panel 30.

While we have found that the best cross-section for the lugs which have been described is that of a square, it will be apparent upon considering the mechanics involved that other cross-sectional shapes are useable, of which we have shown two ditferent ones in Figures 3 and 4.

In Figure 3, a lug 32 having an oval shape is shown attached to panel 21. It will be evident upon consideration that this configuration satisfies the requirement of change in cross-sectional extent which has been previously set forth. Again, in Figure 4, a lug 33 (which may be one end of a rod, as previously explained) having a r -shaped cross-section is shown attached to panel 21. Again, it will be evident that this shape is another example of those which conform to the geometrical requirements previously set forth.

The slots 16 and 17, with the access slots 18 and 19, further increase the general utility of our drawer assembly, in that they may be used to secure devices within the drawer for various purposes other than storing stationery. One such device is the pencil holder 50 shown in Figure 5, which is secured by four short dowels or rods 51. The latter may be of round cross-section, since there is no necessity for preventing lateral sliding of the pencil tray in the drawer. The manner of inserting the pencil tray 50 in the drawer by threading the dowels down through vertical slots 18 and 19 and then laterally along horizontal slots 16 and 17 is evident from the figure.

Again, our inventive drawer provides a convenient means of securing vertical panels by means of a pressed metal adapter 60 which appears in Figure 6 and is shown in detail in Figure 7. The manner of securing a vertical panel 61 between two metal guides 60 is clearly evident from Figure 6. Thus, the drawer is given great versatility, since a portion thereof may be reserved for an ordinary compartment having vertical sides, while the remainder may be fitted out with stationery trays of the type 20, 21 and 30.

While our invention has been described with the aid of specific examples, it will be evident that numerous modifications in detail and arrangement are permissible Within the broad scope of our invention, and the claims which follow are so to be construed.

What we claim is:

l. A compartmented storage drawer, comprising, in combination, a drawer having a pair of side walls, each of said side walls having a horizontal slot on its inner side intermediate of the top and the bottom of said side walls, a bottom panel extending between said side walls and defining a drawer space therein, a panel secured by said side walls comprising a sheet portion having a width less than the distance between said side walls, said panel having a pair of lugs extending beyond said width of said panel but slightly less than the maximum included distance between said horizontal slots, and said lugs having a cross-section of width less than the width of said slots when measured in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said panel and having a cross-section greater than the width of said slots when measured in a direction obliquely inclined from the plane of said panel.

2. A compartmented storage drawer, comprising, in combination, a drawer having a pair of parallel vertical side walls, each of said side walls having a horizontal slot on its inner side intermediate of the top and the bottom of said side walls, a bottom panel extending between said side walls and defining a drawer space therein, a panel secured by said side walls comprising a sheet portion having a width less than the distance between said side walls, said panel having a pair of lugs extending beyond said width of said panel but slightly less than the maximum included distance between said horizontal slots, said lugs having a cross-section of width less than the width of said slots when measured in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said panel and having a cross section greater than the width of said slots when measured in a direction 45 inclined from the plane of said panel, and said panel having a length as measured downwardly of said lugs of more than the vertical distance from said slots to said bottom panel.

3. A compartmented storage drawer, comprising, in combination, a drawer having a pair of parallel vertical side walls, each of said side walls having a horizontal slot on its inner side intermediate of the top and the bottom of said side walls, a bottom panel extending between said side walls and defining a drawer space therein, a panel secured by said side walls comprising a sheet portion having a width less than the distance between said side walls, said panel bearing a rod extending beyond said width of said panel but slightly less than the maximum included distance between said horizontal slots, said rod having a cross-section of width less than the width of said slots when measured in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said panel and having a crosssection greater than the width of said slots when measured in a direction 45 inclined from the plane of said panel, and said panel having a length as measured downwardly of said rod of more than the vertical distance from said slots to said bottom panel.

4. A compartmented storage drawer, comprising, in combination, a drawer having a pair of parallel vertical side walls, each of said side walls having a horizontal slot on its inner side intermediate of the top and the bottom of said side walls, a bottom panel extending between said side walls and defining a drawer space therein, a plurality of panels secured by said side walls, each panel comprising a sheet portion having a width less than the distance between said side .walls, each said panel bearing a rod extending beyond said width of said panel but slightly less than the maximum included distance be tween said horizontal slots, said rod having a square cross-section of width less than the width of said slots when measured in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said panel and having a cross-section greater than the width of said slots when measured in a direction 45 inclined from the plane of said panel, and each said panel having a length as measured downwardly of said rod of more than the vertical distance from said slots to said bottom panel.

No references cited. 

